Sir Leonard Blavatnik rich list

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The rich get richer: The UK’s richest man saw his worth grow by £7.2bn during the pandemic

Leonard Blavatnik was the wealthiest of 171 billionaires in the United Kingdom.“The fact many of the super-rich grew so much wealthier at a time when thousands of us have buried love ones and millions of us worried for our livelihoods makes this a very unsettling boom,” said Robert Watts, the compiler of the list.

Sir Leonard Blavatnik rich list

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Sir Leonard Blavatnik topped the United Kingdom’s latest Sunday Times Rich List, after he made approximately £7.2-billion during the pandemic. The Ukrainian-born media mogul now has a net worth of £23-bilion.

His investments in Warner Music, the record label, and Dazn, which has been dubbed the “Netflix of sport”, really paid off over the last year as millions of people across the globe upped their media consumption amid the pandemic.

BLAVATNIK TOPS UK RICH LIST AGAIN

The 63-year-old business was born in Odessa, in the former Soviet Union; he studied in Moscow before emigrating to the United States with his family at the age of 20. In 1978, Blatvatnik founded Access Industries, a private industrial group in the US and he became a citizen in 1984, he only became a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1984.

According to the Guardian, the tycoon made his way up the financial ladder by purchasing Russian aluminium companies when the Soviet Union collapsed – these companies would eventually form part of the parastatal Rusal.

According to the latest rich list, there are 171 billionaires in the UK – the most there’s ever been. The number of mega-rich people increased by 24%, which is a far cry from the economic situation of most people across the globe who have been gutted by the pandemic.

“The global pandemic created lucrative opportunities for many online retailers, social networking apps and computer games tycoons,” said Robert Watts, the compiler of the list.

“The fact many of the super-rich grew so much wealthier at a time when thousands of us have buried love ones and millions of us worried for our livelihoods makes this a very unsettling boom,” added Watts.

The last time Blavatnik topped the rich list was in 2015 when he was worth £13.17-billion. This year, he seized top spot from Sir James Dyson, whose own fortune only grew by a measly £100-million, who finished fourth in the list.

HERE ARE THE TOP 10 WEALTHIEST PEOPLE IN THE UK:

  1. Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £23-billion
  2. David and Simon Reuben – £21.465-billion
  3. Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family – £17-billion
  4. Sir James Dyson and family – £16.3-billion
  5. Lakshmi Mittal and family – £14.68-billion
  6. Alisher Usmanov – £13.406-billion
  7. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £13-billion
  8. Roman Abramovich – £12-billion
  9. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £12.01-billion
  10. George and Alannah Weston and family – £11-billion.

£1 = R19,75 at 9:50 on 22 May 2021